Based on the context provided for the City of Lakeville and the dialogue within the transcript, here is the formatted version with speaker names added. **Note on Speakers:** * **Joshua Lee** acts as the presiding officer (Acting Mayor) for this meeting. * **John Hennon** is identified by the chair as the Parks and Recreation Director for this specific report (noting the discrepancy with the provided staff list). * **City Clerk** is used for the roll call and formal recording (the transcript phonetically misinterprets "Orlofsky" as "lski/rowski"). *** [0:00] [Music] [0:59] **Joshua Lee:** call this no November 6 city council meeting to order please rise for a moment of silence and the pledge of [1:21] allegiance to the flag of the United States of America Two Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice Mr lski roll call please [1:30] **City Clerk:** sh wul here Joshua Lee here John burmel here and Dan Walter here [1:45] **Joshua Lee:** wonderful thank you very much is there anyone in the audience or online who wishes to speak during citizen comment um if you are here for one of our later items there will be opportunity for that at that part of the public hearing um but if not please uh step forward state your name and address [2:08] **Mike Jackson:** and uh I ask you to keep it to under three minutes three minutes okay uh I don't have any comment on the agenda per se I'm here for the city comment or the public comment great relating to uh members of the community perfect uh my name is Mike Jackson I live at 16562 Lynch path that is in Lakeville I've been a property owner and taxpayer in Lakeville since 1985 uh by my math I think that makes it 38 years um I'm because I don't know where else to go or whom else to help but I'm [2:53] requesting help from whomever I can get it from uh with regard to repairs to my property property sustained from damage that the this Council approved in 2015 um in 2015 we were neighbors to a development that was approved by the Planning Commission and the city council Our concern at the time was water runoff and erosion damage due to the development um City staff seemed unconcerned at the time uh we made it through the city meeting the neighborhood meetings the Planning Commission meetings and then ultimately to the approval process in this room in this building in 2015 this the [3:39] development was called silvarum and I don't think any of you were on the council at that time uh we weren't opposed to the development by any means in fact we've gained eight wonderful neighbors but the damage to our property continues today uh due to runoff from storm water that's in a culvert ends at my property line and then ruds over the surface approximately 100 ft drops 20 ft in that 100 and goes to a wetland on my property that was our concern at the time and when I voiced that concern at the meeting where the council approved the development um I wish I knew who it was [4:25] but one of the members said when I got up what happens when this does damage my prop property he said and I'm quoting the city will take care of it that was in 2015 I have complained every year to City engineering I have yet to have a real plan and I have yet to have a plan in place or an easement to be executed on my property so if anybody can help me I'm more than willing to have dialogue but that's my complaint I hope it doesn't fall in deaf ears I'm a little bit anxious and nervous so that's my my thing I've been working with Zach Johnson doesn't seem to get anywhere ever not saying anything bad about anybody in the city but that's my [5:12] impression so thank you Mr Jackson that's my that's my deal if you can help me out anybody on the background please by all means Zach has my contact info thank you [5:23] **Justin Miller:** can we have some followup too we'll be glad to give you some detail on the there's we have quite the history on this project so very good thank you [5:50] **Joshua Lee:** anyone else in the audience here for public comment not online all right uh Mr Miller any additional information on the for the agenda [5:58] **Justin Miller:** nothing tonight [5:58] **Joshua Lee:** all right then let's go ahead and move on to the park and recreation quarterly report from director John hennon [6:05] **John Hennon:** good evening mayor and city council this is the Parks and Recreation qual report for the months of August September and October starting off with some construction projects first is the construction of the neighborhood park at in the Knob Hill development up in your upper leftand corner construction commenced in late May and you can see we uh completed that here in the month of October few pick aall cord basketball court playround area um open Green Space and a looping trail system so that project that turned out nice the contractor does nice work this is the third project we've done with Blackstone Contracting some Park Bond referendum updates uh antlers Park continues to move forward you can see that a lot of turf establishment has been has happened [6:51] on the on the South Side more of a seed blend and then we've been putting some on contractors been installing some sod here the last couple weeks so um substantial completion for the park is is is expected later this month um sub substantial completion of the Pavilion would be in December so our goal is to open up in uh in the month of May of next year so looking forward to that also as part of the park Bond referendum was the renovation and of Ritter Farm Park cabin with an addition this is the new Ed makeo environmental Learning Center we had the grand opening on o October 14th Ed's family were was present so that was nice that they could attend and we had about 60 individuals that participated and and uh came to our [7:39] event on that Saturday morning had a nice uh presentation by the Raptor Center as well also at Park referendum projects staff and the Consultants continue to work on the design of aan Lee Community Park recall this is at the corner of 185th Street in Cedar Avenue just a touch base on a few few of the many includes pickle ball courts nice playground the splash pad where the Lakeville Lions donated $500,000 towards that um a baseball facility with some nice upgrades and if you recall the lakevi baseball association has committed to a million-dollar donation towards that over 10 years and then we're going to plan on installing a little Cricket pitch along with the five athletic deck so plans are to go out forbid on this project late January [8:25] early February of next year construct it next year and then open it up in 2025 under Park maintenance staff worked with the local contractor fi's landscaping and Excavating to install some uh irrigation on on five softball fields at arenson Park now all nine softball fields and athletic decks will be irrigated if you recall about a month or so ago Lakeville fast pitch donated uh $25,000 towards this project so that was a nice Improvement to Aronson Park also we worked with the construction service is on the Reconstruction of all the trails at casperson Park and that's the picture down the lower right some other Park maintenance projects we had the um horseback Riders [9:11] ask for a little hitching block so they can get onto their horses a little easier and that's what you see on the left hand side we also took down the old environmental Learning Center at rder Farm Park which is noted on the photo on the bottom and uh that was taken out about a month and a half ago or so and we'll be using that area for a future outdoor education little area maybe it's going to be a little fire pit maybe pergola and some uh just an opportunity to do some um additional educational outdoor programming also on a park maintenance each year we we go out and improve an access to a warming house and this year was Dakota Heights which you can see on your left um staff also did some concrete repairs down at the Veterans [9:56] Memorial at arenson Park and then in preparation for the winter months we're out doing some tree trimming warming house repairs irrigation shut off and some restroom closures under Recreation we uh finished our uh summer programming and uh the final participation numbers totaled about 11,610 registrations so that’s Athletics for adults kids all the programming it's just a list of a couple of them on the right hand side so a very busy summer that Casey and Susan did a nice job on but again over 11,600 reg registrants for our programming [Music] [10:59] ipants in our adult leagues this summer Recreation staff also held a annual haunted forest on October 28th with the cold weather the numbers are down a bit but we still believe we had about 1500 participants so it's was fun to have uh all the volunteers and and everyone that came out to enjoy that event at the Art Center we finished up live at the lake that was that um concert series of June through August about 11 or 12 free performances every every uh Wednesday um the art center is taking applications for the 2024 season that will open up here in December and the weekly attendance We Believe range anywhere from 600 to 1300 people each each um evening that we had our our [11:45] performances also you'll note some pictures from the annual um Lakeville Arts Festival this is our 20th year and we had close to 100 um artists and I think it was record-breaking numbers that attended and artists were again about 100 and they did I think some of their best uh sales that they've ever had at the um at the Arts Festival this year Jon's staff also provided some Art in the Park kits at the puppet shows so as the season ended there's about 300 art kits that were distributed and then obviously we have numerous programs at the Art Center including pottery painting and some adult workshops an exciting purchase for the art center was the Fine Arts building that was the old ISD 194 Alternative [12:30] Learning Center and uh it didn't take long for Joe and Scarlet to move right in there um I think it closed at 10 o'clock they were in by 11 and um you can tell they're utilizing every square foot uh square inch of that of that building and now they'll be able to um address the um the waiting list for pottering painting classes and you can see they got it set up for ceramic and painting and drawing and rehearsal studios so they're real excited to to move in there and it's going to be a great addition to their to their programming over at the heritor center couple big um fundraising events is one is the waffle breakfast had about 330 folks that attended that then each year the active adults sell the Metro Dining cards as a um fundraising event and [13:16] that's about 138 restaurants in the Met South Metro Area you basically buy these cards and once a month you can go to this restaurant buy an entree and get an entree free so again that is a fundra in event for the active adults also at the Heritage Center they had numerous popular programs such as Lakeville lunch coffee with a cop a nature walk and a drum fit uh program as well and the current membership is at 1,466 which is an all-time record so the active adults programs continue to uh to increase and we're it's great to see those those participants and again this this facility won't we wouldn't be able to run this facility without the volunteers and there's about aund of [14:02] them that help us um do these [14:27] **Councilmember Bermel:** I would be interested in future reports uh about you talked about 11,000 plus participants yep um what's the capacity generally I mean I'm curious what percentage of the spots are being utilized um like the offerings you're saying like of what we were offering what's the percentage of of the capacity that we're utilizing yeah I to get back on that but you're saying let's say if there's a if there we can handle 20 as 15 participate or something like that you're as a big number not individually but if we are if there are 12,000 participant spots available among all the programs using 11 yeah I'd have to get back to on that one okay yeah yeah but lot of lot of good lot of good numbers this year yeah absolutely yeah [15:14] **Joshua Lee:** well thank you very much great report appreciate it all right we'll move on to the consent agenda which is our routine matters of the city are there any questions comments removals of items all right then can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda [15:25] **Councilmember Bermel:** I'll move approval [15:28] **Councilmember Wolter:** second [15:30] **Joshua Lee:** a motion in a second uh all those in favor say I [15:32] **Councilmembers:** I I [15:35] **Joshua Lee:** motion passes we'll go into the action items number seven um Finance director Julie stall could you oh well you're already there could you get us going on the first public hearing thank you [16:00] **Julie Stahl:** acting Mayor Lee and councel uh our first action item is a public hearing holding a public hearing for our Special Service District the council approved the Special Service District back in 1998 and um what The Advisory Board is asking for is um approving is doing the public hearing and then setting the service charge for taxes payable 2024 and adopting their budget which runs from July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 um this is a requirement of the statute that this Special Service District was set up under the 428a that we hold the public hearing notices are mailed to the business owners um but the the kind of unique situation is The Advisory Board is not asking for any service charge [16:46] again so it's a zero service charge nothing will be on their taxes um the last year that this service charge was in place was 2019 so um the fund balance has been able to to sustain and pay for their um budgets so with that um I'll open up the public hearing or ask for any questions from counil before we go to the public [17:15] **Joshua Lee:** is there any question from the council right so well this is a public hearing so if there is anyone here that wishes to speak on on this public uh hearing item uh I just like public comment you'll have three three minutes is there anyone here to speak on this one okay um can I get a motion to close the public hearing [17:33] **Councilmember Bermel:** I move to close the public hearing [17:35] **Councilmember Wolter:** second [17:37] **Joshua Lee:** Motion in a second Mr lski can we have a roll call please [17:40] **City Clerk:** Fulk I Lee I burmel I Walter I [17:45] **Joshua Lee:** all right it's approved no that was just closing I'm sorry that's sorry you're right I always do that too I do have a question um about this one because there it looked like there was some sponsorship uh money being placed in the next couple years almost running it down more quickly so has there been conversations uh with The Advisory board about what's happening after that point [18:19] **Julie Stahl:** I have not been privy to those conversations so I'm not sure what they're planning with the uh sponsorships because that's a new item different from last year it's a new item I don't know if they've had any discussions about once the money is um gone out of the budget what they plan on doing I don't think they've had that discussion [18:40] **Joshua Lee:** okay well I know that that’s been on the horizon for a while but it's uh coming sooner than later now so I hope the Advisory Board takes that into consideration as they meet going forward all right so I guess then that means we uh is there go on to the motion correct so is there a motion on this public hearing yeah um [19:06] **Councilmember Bermel:** I move to approve the resolution imposing a service charge for special district number one for a Special Service District number one for taxes payable 2024 [19:15] **Councilmember Wolter:** there a second second [19:20] **Joshua Lee:** there's a motion and a second Mr rovski can you do a roll call [19:24] **City Clerk:** Lee I Burl I Walter wul I [19:30] **Joshua Lee:** resolution passes thank you all right let's move on to the next one [19:35] **Julie Stahl:** thank you very much uh so the second item is we're requesting to hold a public hearing to adopt the resolution on unpaid special charges for disease trees uh we adopted or had asked Council to adopt a special assessment policy that would help us um deal with all all of the diseased um uh sorry Emerald ashb problem so what it [19:52] does is it streamlines the process we're not having to issue um special assessment agreements with each um owner and it also it gives the owners and businesses an opportunity to spread it out over a few years on their taxes to lessen the burden um it's also the most Equitable way to to treat this these costs so it's reimbursing the city for the cost of the removals it's not a delinquency of any kind it's just giving this them this opportunity um it's the Le like I mentioned the least labor intensive method and you'll notice there was one consent item for a special assessment agreement that was our last one that we would do that way so all others will follow this so in the spring and in the fall they'll fall into this same [20:38] category where we just lump a lot of them together as we deal with this investation so with that um are there any questions we had one property that is on the one-ear term two properties that are on the three-year term of the assessment and then one property that um reached the dollar amount that took it to the five-year assessment limit uh term so that I'll stand for any questions or if you want to open up the public hearing [21:15] **Councilmember Volk:** council member vul can I just get clarification then um because I didn't go backwards and look so the property owners on this one all of those would have been in a consent agenda format before this or um H how are we um rolling that do do you understand what I'm trying to say [21:28] **Julie Stahl:** yeah it's been it's been a mix so um we started out the process of getting individual agreements um realizing that there they're just going to keep adding to it and that's very staff time intensive so that's where we adopted the policies like no we're going to treat this because we have the statutory ability to do this with under the nuisance control of disease trees so it it's getting away from those individual agre agreements that where the terms it's it's just uh trying to then you have to establish the interest rate each time you know when that's uh when those are set this um sets the interest rate according to the policy which is based on the last Bond issuance that we had so and I and I'm not been privy to the actual agreements and how uh forestry worked with the individual homeowners so I'm I'm not sure if I answered your question [22:45] **Councilmember Volk:** so no I just want to make sure we've got the right processes in place I agree I mean obviously the homeowners agreed um to this and I Ag and so I'm not disputing that I'm just trying to make sure that we had all our ducks in a row before we even approve this does that make sense [23:00] **Julie Stahl:** yes they're still signing a form saying that they um are not going to dispute the charges and and I believe we the City attorney help make or make sure that we were following all the the logistics of yet they're still saying we can come on to the property remove the trees at the city's cost and then following the next step in the process of putting or assessing to the property um so the city can collect those charges all this is doing is instead of having individual agreements we're doing it once or twice a year at one time [23:40] **Councilmember Volk:** right I just wanted to make sure we had thoughted those eyes cross the tees as we were making this transition that's what I'm we have trying to make sure very thorough yes and I didn't research it on my own I'm just you know and I could have looked that up and and probably realized that you had done that but I figured I got you here I'll ask [23:46] **Joshua Lee:** I had a question about the there's one property where there's the fee is being charged over 3 years but it looks like it's technically I mean sorry let me back up we it's a one-year agreement but technically it looks like it's a three could be a three-year was that something because it meets the over $1,001 threshold [24:20] **Julie Stahl:** how we set it up was at the base cost the cost of removing the trees if that's where the term the assessment term is set so I see the base amount of a, I know not including the administrative not including the administrative fee correct see okay thank thank you any other [24:31] **Joshua Lee:** questions okay so again this is a public hearing so if there's anyone in the audience that wishes to speak on this you can step up to the podium seeing none is there a motion to close the public hearing [24:45] **Councilmember Bermel:** I'll make a motion to close the public hearing [24:48] **Councilmember Wolter:** motion is there a second second [24:50] **Joshua Lee:** all all those in favor say I [24:52] **Councilmembers:** I I I [24:55] **Joshua Lee:** all right on to the actual resolution is there any further discussion [24:58] **Councilmember Volk:** I'd like to make a motion to approve the resolution adopting assessments for the unpaid special charges [25:02] **Councilmember Bermel:** is there a second second [25:05] **Joshua Lee:** a motion in the second Mr rowski could you do a roll call [25:10] **City Clerk:** fmal I Walter Fulk I Lee [25:23] **Joshua Lee:** thank you very much appreciate it is there any new or unfinished business for tonight any announcements all right the the next meetings are listed up on the screen uh do we have a motion to adjourn [25:40] **Councilmember Wolter:** so moved [25:42] **Councilmember Bermel:** second [25:45] **Joshua Lee:** all right Motion in a second all in favor please say I [25:48] **Councilmembers:** I I I [25:50] **Joshua Lee:** passes or adjourned [26:15] [Music] [26:37] this